Photo/Illutration Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) members heads to the Lower House to submit a bill to legalize the use of maiden names as common names on May 19. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Opposition Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) submitted a bill to the Lower House on May 19 to maintain the much-criticized “one-surname” policy but allow for the legal use of maiden names.

The party’s plan is a departure from the bill submitted by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in April to allow married couples to use dual surnames.

Nippon Ishin’s bill would essentially uphold the principle of “same family register and same family surname.”

But it would also legally recognize a married person’s maiden name as a “common name” if so desired.

Currently, couples can use dual surnames for their passports and My Number identification cards, but Nippon Ishin’s bill would allow the use of only the legal common names.

Public opinion polls have shown increasing support for a change in the legal system to allow couples to register their marriages under dual surnames.

There have also been calls within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to legalize the use of maiden names, but LDP leadership is cautious about consolidating the party’s views.

Like the bill submitted by the CDP, Nippon Ishin’s proposal does not appear to be supported by a majority in the Lower House, so it likely won’t be passed during the current Diet session.

‘LOSS OF IDENTITY’

Article 750 of the Civil Code stipulates that upon marriage, “the husband or wife shall take the family name of his or her spouse.”

This means married couples in Japan are obliged to use the same family name.

An overwhelming 95 percent of married couples take the husband’s surname, according to a 2023 survey by the Cabinet Office.

Critics have said the spouse who loses his or her family name upon marriage faces such disadvantages as a “loss of identity” and “inconvenience in daily life and work.”

However, opponents of a dual-surname system argue that it would have “undesirable effects” on the couple’s children, and that the “one-surname” policy is well-established in Japan.”

The business community, local assemblies and others have called on the central government to activate discussions to introduce the system as soon as possible.

Some LDP lawmakers have proposed keeping the one-surname system but promoting an “expansion of the use of the maiden name as a common name.”

Junior coalition partner Komeito, which submitted a proposal to the Diet to introduce such a system in 2001, wants the ruling parties to establish a forum to discuss the issue.

(This article was compiled from reports written by Ryohei Miyawaki and Suzuka Tominaga.)

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